


Calendar

by Faramirlover



Series: April Writing Challenge [1]
Category: X-Men (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Maybe angsty, charles was a merman!au, meant to be kinda fluffy, month of prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 15:29:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6430120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faramirlover/pseuds/Faramirlover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He doesn’t need a calendar to tell him what he can feel in his bones. Ex-Mer!Charles AU. I was clearly thinking about The Little Mermaid. Charles is a Professor of Marine Biology now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Calendar

Charles felt his phone vibrate in his pocket just as he was drawing the lecture to a close.

“Okay guys. That’ll do for today. Reminder that your essays are due in on this Friday,” he had to raise his voice to be heard over the din of his students starting to leave, “I hope you’ve all found me some very interesting fish for me to read about.”

Slipping his phone out of his pocket he found a calendar alert. He didn’t bother opening it up, just dismissed it and slipped it back into his pocket. He didn’t need his phone to tell him there was a full moon tonight, he could feel it already, a pull underneath his skin that had been building to a peak for the last few days.

Back in his office he dipped his fingers into his fish tank letting his butterfly fish swim up and rub against him.

Even after so long being human he hadn’t quite got used to this feeling, feeling trapped in this body, two skinny legs instead of a powerful tail, made restless by the pull of the moon. It had been months since he’d let himself go back to the sea, he knew Erik didn’t like to go, wary of the waves in a way Charles understood even though he’d never felt it.

A quick glance at the clock told him he had two hours before Erik would expect him home. He wouldn’t have to know he’d been swimming.

* * *

“Couldn’t rest the call of the sea this time?”

He’d barely been here ten minutes and Erik had already tracked him down.

“Erik,” he didn’t turn away from watching the waves but reached out behind him to let his husband twine their fingers together, “how’d you know where I’d be?”

“My calendar let me know its full moon and its perigee, right? It’s stronger now that other times. I know you well enough to work out where you’ll be.”

Charles hmmed and toed his shoes off, letting go of Erik’s hand to step knee deep in to the surf. Erik didn’t follow him in to the waves, only stood at the edge, just beyond the reach of the lapping sea. They were silent, Charles watching the waves and Erik watching him. It was peaceful and the roll of the waves calmed the itch under his skin. He felt at peace.

“Do you regret it?”

It was a question that Charles knew had been caught in Erik’s mind for years, he just hadn’t been able to ask it until now.

“I miss my sister. I miss the feeling of being free. I miss the feeling of being beneath the waves.”

“So you feel trapped here. Here with me.”

He looks back at Erik and the sea was like a barrier between them, Erik unable to come closer and Charles unwilling to leave the surf. He’d already given the sea up once for Erik, what was once more? He stepped out of the waves back on to dry land

“I chose you, Erik. I chose you over everything. I will never regret that.”

Erik didn’t seem to hear what he was saying, eyes fixed on the full moon hanging large and bright in the sky. It was always difficult for Erik, the way the moon pulled at Charles like it pulled at the sea, calling him home. He knew that on some level Erik had never allowed himself to trust in the promises Charles had made, that somehow the world Charles had left behind meant more than the man he loved.

“I love you.”

That seemed to be enough, Erik meeting his eyes at last, wary but focused.

“Do you remember what I said to you when I saved you?”

“Saved me? I wasn’t some damsel in distress,” Erik’s usually grumpiness overwhelming his melancholy even as he pulled Charles in to his arms.

Charles chuckled in to his shoulder, arms slipping round to hold Erik close.

“I said that you weren’t alone. I’m with you for the rest of my life, Erik. You’ll never be alone again.”

He let Erik lead him away from the waves, not looking back once.


End file.
